This invention relates to improved disposable garments and a method for their fabrication. Limited wear plastic and other clothing is used in industries where it is desired to protect street clothes, to shield the skin from contact with toxic materials or to prevent harmful substances from being accidentally removed from work areas and transferred to the outside by adherence to street clothes. In these uses the clothing is removed and discarded or laundered at the end of each work period. The fabrication methods taught by the invention may also be applied to clothing which is used for street wear but can be mass produced for economic reasons. These applications include certain sports and children's wear.
In the prior art garments have been prepared from plastic sheets which are then stored on rolls. An individual item of clothing can be separated from the roll by means of perforations provided for this purpose. The garment is generally open at the back so that it can be draped around the body and tied with strings or plastic strips which are attached by heat sealing or adhesives. The draping compensates somewhat for what is generally a poor fit but leaves a portion of the body or street clothing exposed. In some items of disposable clothing--e.g. plastic shoe covers or gloves, the garment completely encloses the area to be protected but the fit is very poor and makes for clumsy movement. A construction which has been used to achieve some degree of fit and more complete body coverage is the poncho type of garment. In this case a head slit is cut into the center of a rectangular sheet of plastic. This sheet is almost twice as long as the wearer's height. The garment is then drawn in around the belt line by a cord. Much of the arm area however remains unprotected.
Prior art is represented by the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,518 by Leadford, U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,236 by Lloyd and Sirak, U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,760 by Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,139 by Sonntag and U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,668 by Franklin.
There are available at present a number of reasonably priced plastic materials which can be laundered and reused. Disposability after one use need therefore not be an unavoidable consequence of the use of plastic materials for rapidly-produced garments.
It is one objective of the present invention to provide mass-produced garments in a range of sizes while reducing manufacturing costs and providing flexibility and variety in the clothing produced.
It is a second objective of the present invention to provide garments which can be conveniently dispensed from a roll or from a flat, accordion-packed pile.
It is a third objective of the present invention to provide garments which cover street wear completely so as to give better protection than those now in use and to provide garments which can themselves serve as low cost street wear.
These and other objectives will become apparent from the following specifications and drawings.